Posted on 03/31/2014 10:48:17 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
Russian military drills near neighboring Finland have provoked concern that northern Europe may be the next focus of Moscow's seemingly renewed appetite for redrawing its borders.
Troops and jet fighters from all four military regions of Russia were deployed Sunday about 150 miles east of the Finnish border, according to the English-language newspaper Finnbay. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that the exercises were pre-planned and that more than 50 fighter pilots took part.
Finland was part of the Russian empire for 108 years, from 1809 until Russia’s withdrawal from World War I in 1917. The Karelia region, where the war games are taking place, straddles the Finnish border and has historically been a heavily militarized zone for Moscow.
But experts say that while Moscow appears to have seized another opportunity to flex its muscles, the threat of an armed invasion is very low.
"The people of Helsinki are nervous. What Putin is doing is sending shock waves through Europe"
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Obama will feign an effort to counter neo-Russian belligerence. But I think his ideology supports a Soviet regrouping. His only concern is whether he can fake it long enough for his socialist handlers to hold on to power in the USA.
Obama’s actions thus far have been impotent. A real action would be a breakout of LNG exports to the Eurozone to buttress the USA’s trade balance and at the same time crash revenues on the Russian side. And simultaneously a Palin refrain of “Drill Baby Drill” in the Bakken and Alaska with the aim of crashing oil prices would leave Putin in the gutter.
Putin is head of one of the three oligarch families that control all oil and gas from Russia, and they don’t like each other much but they currently maintain a truce of sorts. If Putin’s policies result in a crash to their oil and gas revenue streams, the other oligarchs will smash Putin very quickly. But I am thinking like Reagan, not like Obama; silly me.
Putin would not be acting as he is now if he thought Obama would pinch his oil and gas business. Therefore, one has to believe he knew ahead of time how Obama would act.
Now Obama has an opportunity to show (fake) he’s ‘tough’ with the Russians while he gives them unpublished concessions under the table. A foreign crisis with a fabricated ‘tough guy’ counter from Obama may ease pressure on his party’s looming midterm disaster. So far we have reports in the state controlled media of an ‘agreement’ between Putin and Obama but Obama needs more drama and needs it closer to November. Someone is writing a script for this.
But then there’s the prickly thorn of a widely supported bipartisan bill in Congress to open up the export floodgates of LNG to Europe. But this runs counter to a tough guy agreement that Obama’s script writers are working up.
So timing for November and a bipartisan bill that runs counter to Obama’s script for November gives us a sound of crickets from the socialist media for now. April, May, June, July, August, September and an October surprise leaves six months of mischief and crisis building for the democrats to work on. Never let a crisis go to waste.
He’s toying with us now. Hey look over here. No look over here...
Hitler thought, based on the Winter War, that invading Russia would be a cakewalk.....not so much.
“The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that the exercises were pre-planned and that more than 50 fighter pilots took part.”
Murphy’s Law (proposed): Military drills are always “pre-planned” — especially when a surprise attack is contemplated.
“The military history of Finland during World War II encompasses three major conflicts. The first two of these – the defensive Winter War in 1939–1940, and the Continuation War alongside the Axis Powers in 1941–1944 – were waged against the Soviet Union. The third one, the Lapland War in 1944–1945, followed the signing of an armistice agreement with the Allied Powers, which stipulated expulsion of German forces from Finnish territory.
By the end of hostilities, Finland managed to defend its independence, but had to cede nearly 10% of its territory, including its second largest city, Viipuri, and pay out a large amount of war reparations to the Soviet Union. As a result of this territorial loss, many Finnish Karelians fled or were evacuated from their homes, relocating to areas that remained within the borders of Finland.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Finland_during_World_War_II
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Not sure my intent was clearly conveyed. But it was clear that both the Russians and Germans respected the resistance of the Finns. Most looked on them as simply crazy. Might be right.
He does in fact have a Russia policy, it is appeasing Russia.
I think you're right in one respect that the Russians don't care about casualties...or didn't. The fellow I talked to had been in the army for over a year because he said he was an officer and everybody HAD to join the Army. I think he was in one of their infantry units because the guy shot very well and seemed to enjoy his time at the range. He said his father had taught him to shoot when he was 5-6 years old by hunting rabbits.
My point was that the Finns don't think they "lost" but that they just outlasted the Russians and made them bleed. That's the impression that I got from him. He also hated the Russians, even the immigrant ones here in the US..... hate really is about the nicest emotion he displayed where Russians were concerned.
It's going to be tough to see Russian tanks or APC's rolling through the Finnish country side without collecting a couple of rounds.
After WWII the Soviets simply took a huge provence of Finland, ten percent of their land, declared it part of Russia and repopulated it with Russians.
The Finnish remember this and will not go easy into the Russian night.
Finland was never absorbed into the Russian Empire as were the Baltics or Ukraine. It was mostly self-governing.
Thanks JimRob.
Are you sure they weren't in Finland all along? Finland was regarded as part of Sweden for many centuries. When my Swedish-speaking grandparents entered thru Ellis Island, they reported they came "from Sweden" though they had never set foot in Sweden and neither did their parents. Indeed,in the US Census reports of 1910, 1920 and 1930, they answered as country of origin "Sweden" then "Russia" then "Finland." Technically speaking, all 3 answers were correct.
The Fins also beat the early Soviet army, and fought the late WWII one to a standstill (they didn't want to advance to far, and Stalin didn't want to press the issue anymore).
Today, I don't know. Russia is huge trade partner with the Finns, but they do see Finland as part of the Third Rome (greater Russia).
Wow, he took down 500 Soviet soldiers in 100 days. Amazing.
~Indeed,in the US Census reports of 1910, 1920 and 1930, they answered as country of origin “Sweden” then “Russia” then “Finland.” Technically speaking, all 3 answers were correct.~
Finland wasn’t a nation-state before 1918. It was a part of Sweden before late 18th century, finally annexed by Russia about 1809 (with active support from the Finns, heavily taxed by Sweden). By the end of 19th century there were some misunderstanding between Finns and tsarist authorities and right after revolution, Russian communists granted them independence in 1918 for the first time.
That’s what I was thinking. What is Putin’s real plan?
The Finns have become quite feminized since the last time they met the Russian Empire in the Field.
Plus, this time it is unlikely the Russians will be fighting on multiple fronts.
If Russia invaded Finland, Finland would probably take its land back.
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